ABC under fire for $15m Trump settlement as drone panic confounds officials: Live

Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes and the president-elect’s Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell have been selected to serve in his upcoming administration.

Nunes, as former California House Representative, was tapped for to serve as Chairman of Trump’s Intelligence Advisory Board, while Grenell was picked to serve as his Presiential Envoy for Special Missions.

While Nunes was in office he served on the House Intelligence Committee and consistently backed any move then-President Trump made. He also led the two-year investigation into US’s responde to the 2012 Benghazi attack, which ultimate found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the US State Department under Hillary Clinton.

Nunes also refused to back an investigation into Trump former national security adviser and Q-Anon conspiracy theorist Michael Flynn after it was revealed he had unreported discussions with Russian officials while serving under Trump.

“From everything that I can see, his conversations with the Russian ambassador—he was doing this country a favor, and he should be thanked for it,” Nunes said at the time.

Grenell formerly served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and his Director of National Intelligence.

Prior to his involvement in Trump’s administration, Grenell was a consultant for an eastern European oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc. He faced criticism after he wrote articles defending the oligarch without making clear he was being paid to manage the man’s image.

Grenell is a former Fox News contributor and was named as a VP at the far-right media outlet Newsmax in 2021. He earned the ire of the media in 2020 when, during a Trump press conference, he refused to identify himself to reporters and publicly accused the state of covering up incidents of voter fraud in order to help the election prospects of then-Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

These claims were made without evidence, and Mr Grenell refused to answer questions from journalists who demanded he prove his assertions.

A transgender activist who staged a sit-in at the US Capitol to protest House Republicans’ new policy targeting a transgender incoming member of Congress tells The Independent that the 2024 election cycle shows that LGBTQ+ Americans really can’t trust Democrats to have their backs in a fight.

“Unfortunately, the signals coming from our government right now, under a Democratic president, are telling us that we’re essentially on our own,” the 33-year-old activist told our Io Dodds in an interview.

Donald Trump Jr is dating a new woman who he thinks will “impress” his father, but has not publicly announced a split from Kimberly Guilfoyle, whose style he has criticized, according to a report.

Photos captured Trump Jr., 46 holding hands with socialite Bettina Anderson, 38, as they went for an evening stroll through Palm Beach, Florida this week.

While neither president-elect Donald Trump’s eldest son nor Guilfoyle, 55, have spoken publicly about their relationship status, insiders told People that after months of criticizing Guilfoyle’s style, he thinks he’s found someone who fits into the Trump family — someone comparable to his father’s wife, Melania. Trump met Melania at a party in 1998, when he was on a date with another woman, the former first lady said in a 2016 interview with Harper’s Bazaar.

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With the year coming to a close, the Trump transition team is planning a busy week of meetings at the Capitol for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the incoming administration’s controversial pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

He’s set to meet with numerous GOP senators in the coming days, according to the transition team.

Health experts warn Kennedy is skeptical of mainstream public health interventions like vaccines and flouride in water.

Sports and culture commentator Stephen A. Smith joined conservative lawmakers in criticizing the findings of a Justice Department inspector general report on the extent of the FBI presence at the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Smith said he was “sick” and felt like Democrats had lied about the insurrection based on the report, which found “no evidence” undercover FBI employees joined in the riot, but noted the presence of 26 confidential agency sources in the wider area around the Capitol.

Senator Mike Lee of Utah made a similar criticism on Sunday, arguing Democrats had wrongly dismissed questions about the insurrection as conspiracy theories.

Senate Republican leader and polio survivor Mitch McConnell on Friday condemned “dangerous” efforts to abolish the polio vaccine following news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lawyer’s tried to do just that.

Attorney Aaron Siri in 2022 petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval for multiple critical childhood vaccines, including the polio vaccine. News of Siri’s action resurfaced just weeks after RFK Jr. was named by President-elect Donald Trump as his pick to be secretary of Health and Human Services. Siri is currently helping Kennedy vet officials to serve in the department.

Kennedy is known for his extreme anti-vaccine positions which are widely derided by the mainstream medical community. Siri’s petition claimed the vaccine was not properly tested to ensure it was safe, despite its decade-long use protecting millions of children from contracting the disease.

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Democrats are pushing Biden to continue using his final days in office to seal liberal priorities before Trump takes office.

That includes enrishing the Equal Rights Amendment, which would constitutionally ban gender discrimination.

“With Republicans set to take unified control of government, Americans are facing the further degradation of reproductive freedom,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wrote today on Sunday in The New York Times. “Fortunately, Mr. Biden has the power to enshrine reproductive rights in the Constitution right now.”

Gillibrand argued that because two-thirds of Congress ratified the proposed amendment in 1972 and three-quarters of states ratified it in 2020, the ERA has met the constitutional requirements for certification.

Aides and allies to Kamala Harris are reportedly divided over what the Democrat’s political future looks like after her stinging loss in the 2024 election.

The main point of contention is whether Harris should try to run for governor of California in 2026 or face a likely wide field of up-and-coming Democrats in the 2028 presidential race.

“If you’re thinking of running for president in 2028, the worst thing you can do is run for governor in 2026,” a former adviser told CNN.

“He told me he would release her from that agreement,” the South Carolina Republican told NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday. “Just think about what we’re talking about. I’d want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody.”

“If people have any allegation to make, come forward and make it,” Graham said. “Like they did in Kavanaugh, we’ll decline whether or not it’s credible. Right now he’s being tried by anonymous sources, that will not stand.”

More details in our full story.

Officials with several agencies explained that reviews of thousands of reports to tip lines, 911 centers and other sources revealed the vast majority of sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere to be cases of persons mistaking low-flying commercial aircraft conducting holding patterns around regional airports.